<p>Hey u guys. I was wondering how accepting Williams is of the LGBT students, and if there are a reasonable number of LGBT students. I was wondering cause this issue hasn't been addressed in the forum.
thanks.</p>
<p>My S is sitting next to me and told me what to say. He said sexual preference is a total non-issue at Williams and the Queer Student Union is quite active. They give the biggest party of the year, and everyone goes.</p>
<p>Once again mythmom does not give the best answer from a student's prespective. I know several members of the QSU and complaints are sort of universal; there are not a lot of open-LGBT students on campus. The predominant athletic campus culture sort of makes those LGBT students that are open self-segregate into social nets like the QSU or others that do not fit into the mainstream. The good part about this self-segregation is that the small number of LGBT students allows you to form strong bonds with your fellow LGBT classmates. If you are after something more than friendship however, this bond apparently subdues that tendency due to the lack of privacy and relatively few open students. Other LGBT students that are not really open devote themselves to other areas rather than their sexuality, such as focusing on academics.</p>
<p>However, parties are Williams are VERY hetero-normative, and the hook-up culture predominantly excludes LGBT students. Being a veteran of two Queer Bashes (the party that mythmom talks about), I can say for sure that there is no difference between this party and the standard Williams drunken festival aside from the excuse for guys to check out scantily-clad women and vice versa. The one this semester is a case in point. The crowd was dominated by the usual Williams drunken revelry while the few LGBT students in attendence (all members of the QSU) danced in the back of the crowd. </p>
<p>To balance out this negativity though, Williams as an institution has many resources for LGBT students and those coming out. The campus consistently advertises counseling, and the QSU this year has started a calling service that links QSU members with those that need someone to talk too. The QSU does attempt to plan gatherings and social events to a degree of success. </p>
<p>Just to summarize, the official policy of Williams is open to LGBT and there are many (from what I have heard, unused) resources available for those students. However, in terms of campus culture, LGBT students will have a harder time integrating themselves openly given the inherently-homophobic nature of Williams' athletic culture. To quote an LGBT friend, "Bring your closets with you."</p>
<p>"inherently-homophobic nature of Williams' athletic culture"</p>
<p>Tsk, tsk. It's a shame that you feel the need to project so much, and so (in my experience with several Ephs) incorrectly.</p>
<p>Tin hat much?</p>
<p>Many students (athletes and non-) proudly wear their "Gay? Fine by me" Williams t-shirts.</p>
<p>Perhaps the "predominant athletic culture" depends on whom you know. I did not answer this question, my son sitting next to me did. He was just to lazy to write. It is lame to say he has many gay friends, but as a recently decided theater major, I must say that he does, and his answer was born of talking to them.</p>
<p>You seem to go to a different school than he does because he is not an athlete (I don't think he ever met a sport he liked) and does not feel the athletic culture defines his experience at all.</p>
<p>That is not to say your experience is not accurate Teltar, but it is not everyone's experience.</p>
<p>I do not answer questions from "my" perspective, since I would not know the answers. I consult my son at every turn and answer from his perspective. If you disagree with him, that's fine, but there is a snideness in your responses to me that is a bit wounding.</p>
<p>If you are so unhappy, perhaps you should transfer to a more congenial campus.</p>
<p>Williams is a bit buttoned up -- it's very old New England so everything is less showy than at many campuses, political and queer culture included.</p>
<p>And lest you think I am just an old fogey, I teach at college and have been often a course in Queer Studies for next semester. I exist in a very open environment with many GLBT faculty and we all get along and respect each other enormously, and we think our very heterogeneous faculty (if you'll pardon the hetero) (including many people of color, and many Asian, African and Latin American faculty) a great boon to our students.</p>
<p>I think both mythmom and Teltar are both right. Williams is welcoming enough to gay students, but would not be at the top of the list for most gay-friendly colleges and universities.</p>
<p>valentinocuevas:</p>
<p>Here is an example of the respect and consideration shown in the Williams community concerning issues faced by LBGT students (from a college announcement):</p>
<p>"Prop. 8: America's Fight for Civil Rights<br>
Posted: Monday December 01</p>
<p>Wednesday Dec. 3rd, from 12-1pm in Hardy House, the Multi-Cultural Center, behind Schow.</p>
<p>Prop 8: Where do we go from here?</p>
<p>A discussion on marriage and civil rights in America</p>
<p>This past election, 4 states wrote into their constitutions that the civil rights of the queer community are invalid, that queer people are 2ND CLASS CITIZENS in the eyes of this nation. Why does this matter? Why should we care? What can you do to help?
COME TALK ABOUT IT!</p>
<p>Casual lunch will be served.</p>
<p>The MCC is hosting a community forum on the passage of Prop. 8 (a recent ban on same-sex marriage in California) and other civil rights issues this Wednesday at noon in Hardy House. This is a great chance for everyone to learn about Prop. 8 and why it is important for all Americans, not just Californians, to know about. Come hear myself [student '11], WGST Prof. Katie Kent, Queer Life Coordinator Justin Adkins, and Robyn Maguire, Field Director of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, talk about this issue AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!</p>
<p>Please come and bring your friends! Especially if you are FOR or AGAINST legalizing same-sex marriage, COME TALK ABOUT THE ISSUE!"</p>
<p>I think Williams is extremely accepting of gays; sexuality is basically a non-issue for most people here and overt homophobia is pretty much unheard of (at least within my realm of experience; I can't speak for every possible sports team but I do know gay guys on several teams who seem to do fine). That said, I would largely agree with Teltar as to the challenges of being gay at Williams - the nature of any small college is that the pool of potential partners is very finite, and being gay takes that problem to a whole different level. I would guess there are maybe twenty openly gay kids of each gender at Williams, some of them already in committed relationships, so I imagine the pickins are very, very slim.</p>
<p>To be completely honest, the school is still fairly segregated in terms of who people hang out with predominately. After the freshman year, people hang out with their entries but social circles tend to include people of the same sport and/or ethnicity. The campus is openly accepting of LBGT, but the school is predominately an athletic school so I can see Teltar's point as being fairly on point. It sounds like mythmom's S doesn't interact with this culture very much (kind of proving my former point) so doesn't really know what the majority of the campus is like.</p>
<p>I personally had a gay friend who struggled to come out because of how many of the gay guys he tried to get with were very shy/undercover about their sexual preference. So while we are very accepting on the surface, its not the easiest thing to be LBGT at Williams. But then again, where is it easy to be LBGT.</p>
<p>thats great news for my two friends who got in... theyre twins and gay. they also play football... do you think thatll be a problem?</p>